An update is long overdue on this project. Since my last post, I have barely had a free moment to spare writing my experience and kept putting it off.
I got my website up using WordPress and Thrive Architect to put it together with my brother's help. My goal with the site is to have everything super minimalistic, very clean, and orderly with only a few pages. The landing/home page would consist of blocks of product information and an image with a buy now or get updates button tied to it. My goal was only to promote the products, nothing else; if they wanted to see me about info, it would be in another area and would have to spend the time finding it making it more "sticky."
I used namecheap.com to pick up my domain name (duifworkholding), which only costs me $9.09 a year to maintain. I then went over to WordPress and got a membership to access their website tools to create it, which is only $14 a month to uphold. And finally, I used Thrive Architect to design the site (my parents already own a subscription, so I piggybacked off theirs for free).
There was a huge amount of information that went over my head while my brother was setting it up, but from what I understand, you buy your domain name from an independent site, then get the code they give you to give it access on a web builder. In this case, WordPress, some sites already have their own web builders built into the domain name creation, but they aren't always very advanced, so it's best to go externally for that. Buying the domain name only redirects that link to your site, which could be anywhere.
I only recently realized that all websites are code made to look pretty with functions, but behind it, all is HTML and plugins used for the appearance and ease of use to set them up. Technically, you could create just as good a website by hand from a blank page, but it would take an incredible amount of time, which is where the site builders have their market. Knowing basic HTML programming is super helpful for making small manual edits throughout your site for specific functions. My brother was able to quickly set up buttons that weren't in the web builder already.
Thrive architect is another additional plugin that works with WordPress to make the website's formatting and general use easier. It's got dozens of templates and a relatively easy interface to put everything together.
Once I got the website up and some basic pages built, I moved over to the email side. One of the things I want to learn how to do during this product development is learning how to build an email list and market. Countless times I hear that having your own list can give you the ability to make almost any amount of money on the spot (not literally, but you get the picture). I decided to go with MailChimp to build my list and send out email campaigns. A campaign in email terms is an email or series of emails sent out to specific people or "lists" you can market directly to.
An external service like MailChimp or Activecampaign is much like an additional plugin I mentioned with the websites, where you can technically do all the work yourself in your email dashboard. Still, it requires quite a bit more work and scheduling to get it looking professional. MailChimp has many features, including email lists, custom emails for specific people using their names & info, specific product offers for certain people, weekly scheduled newsletters, and many more!
I also made a "landing page" on my website to send people directly to get info about my product. It's a super basic design with little information except that of the product rendering and email signup with my corner logo. I made sure to keep it clutter-free to ensure the focus was on the email updates and not the rest of the site. I did add a function to my logo, so when you tap on it, it'll redirect you to my main website.
Much like setting up the website, I get a code from MailChimp, which allows me to add functions in my WordPress admin dashboard to subscribe to my mailing list and hooks directly to my list.
I also set up my store side of the site where I can receive payments and shipping information. It was all quite easy to set up using Stripe, which hooks directly up with your bank account. I wanted to use Paypal as my primary means of purchasing, but that requires you to have a business account to be 18+ to sign up for.
I ran into some issues with the mobile version of the website formatting differently, and for a lot of the pages, I had to recreate the page design so it would look decent on phones.
It's been an absolute whirlwind of new information and experiences, and I'm still trying to process it all. I'm so glad I challenged myself to develop and release this product with a time constraint; it's really pushing me toward only doing the needle moving activities and avoiding time wasters.
The website is currently up and can be visited at www.duifworkholding.com/
All in all, my time spent on the website came to a total of 7:30:00, which brought my total hours up to 14:10:00